It Ends With 'E'
by x-Sari
Summary: Tori causes drama between Beck and Jade again, and it's up to Beck to calm his girlfiend down. Short random one shot, fluff.


_So, it's been forever since I've written a fanfiction, and I know that. I've not been having the easiest time lately. And I know it's not my usual Maximum Ride: to be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the series due to the whole global warming/ love triangle stuff, and I miss the hard attitude, tough fighting, and fierceness. Recently, I've fallen in love with the show Victorious, particularly the character of Jade, because she possesses all those traits I miss from the Max fandom. Also, she is spectacularly written, very interesting, and overall my favorite character right now. So, I was inspired to write, and decided to write this short about Beck and Jade, the BEST couple on the show. Seriously, there should NEVER be a Beck and Tori. Who knows? If after posting this I feel like writing again, I may start back up with longer stories, but for now, I present you with the one-shot "It Ends With 'E'" (ALERT: Un-beta'd, raw story, and also, no copyright infringement intended). I know its bad, I just wanted to get writing again._

-x-

It's 9:21 PM, and when Beck hears knocking at his door, and he knows immediately who it is. Despite what Jade thinks, he doesn't get many people knocking on his RV, looking for him. He hesitates to answer- not because he doesn't want to see her, he always does- but because Tori will be calling him at any moment to discuss their project for Sikowitz's class, and he has found that if you ignore her, she will send a barrage of texts and voicemails until you get back to her. Somehow, he didn't think his girlfriend would like someone she is already suspicious of contacting him, not once, but multiple times.

He had only recently gotten Jade to believe that he loved her again, and was not, would not, could not ever leave her for Tori, or anyone else. The last thing he wanted was to break down that trust again for a stupid project that wasn't even due until next week. But Tori had told him she would call exactly at 9:30, and Beck had no doubt she had been counting down the seconds until she could ring him. Everyone knew she had been obsessed with Beck since they kissed in improv class, and everyone knew Beck only did it because he was acting- everyone but Jade and Tori, of course, who both thought the kiss meant more than that.

"Beck?" Jade called out. "Are you home?" He tried to power his phone off, but it didn't work. Stupid, piece of crap, pay as you go phone. He had forgotten the power button was jammed, ever he had dropped it from the balcony in the theater. So, okay, maybe it wasn't only the phone's fault…

"Uhhh….. Just a second! I…. I'm changing!" He tried to turn it on silent, because he really didn't want to talk to Tori anyway, but he was trying to move too fast, and he dropped it. It flew under his bed. "What's up?" He called, stalling. He dropped on all fours and began digging through the mountains of stuff. Was that pizza box from last week, or last month? He couldn't tell. And that shirt! He thought he'd lost it long ago.

"It's my parents; they were fighting about the divorce and, well…" He heard her voice drop off, and he knows she's upset, even though no one would have been able to tell. Beck just knows her that well, and decides to give up searching for his phone. Hopefully its ringing would be muffled by the piles of clothes and junk under there. Jade upset was more important, anyway. "I neither of them want custody. Big surprise, right?"

He opens the door, and she's there looking as composed as always. Had he really expected anything different? Yeah, this was Jade they were talking about, but he had thought, maybe, her emotions might show this time.

"I'm sorry, Jade," Beck says, and she gives him a weak hug before going inside. Beck follows, closing the door behind him. Before it is even locked, he hears her flop onto his bed, and when he turns around, she is face first on his pillow. He sits beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?" She mumbles something unintelligible into his pillow as he rubs her neck in the way he knows she likes.

Her hair is strewn around her, hiding the parts of her face that aren't entirely hidden by pillow, but he's fairly sure she isn't crying. When Jade cries, she's not like this. She doesn't shake, or whimper, nor does her voice become wobbly, not even a little bit. Instead, Jade simply places her head on his chest and holds his hand tightly.

"What? I couldn't understand you," Beck says softly. She raises her head and repeats herself.

"No, not really, I just needed out." As soon as she finishes speaking, she pushes her face against the pillow again. _Needed to see you_ is what he knows she means. He doesn't say things like, 'it'll get better', 'I'm sorry', or 'it's okay', because he knows this will just irritate her. He sits in silence, running his fingers through her hair, and waits.

Abruptly, less than two minutes after her arrival, she sits up. He was right-she hadn't been crying- just upset about her situation. Knowing that neither of your parents want you is hard to swallow, but he knows Jade has been through a lot worse. "Let's watch CSI," she says, not even bothering to explain. He knows better than to ask, because she'll talk when she's ready. Instead he clicks on the TV to the appropriate channel and wraps his arms around her waist, while she leans back onto him.

That's when he hears it. The soft jingling of his phone, coming from directly under where they were sitting. He glances at his clock, right as the minute hand moves to the time Tori specified. Beck grits his teeth and pretends he hears nothing. Jade was already upset about her home situation: worrying about Tori is not what she needs now. And, as we've covered, he really does not want to lose her trust again. Thankfully, the theme song was playing loudly, and his girlfriend didn't even notice. That time, anyway. When his phone rings for what he counts as the third call, Jade tilts her head to the side, finally hearing it.

"What's that?" She asks.

"I don't know," he lies. Beck hates lying, but he knows that if Jade finds out it's Tori calling, she will probably be upset enough that they will fight.

His phone buzzes with a text message. "Where's your phone? I think it's ringing," Jade says, suspicious now.

"I dunno, I kind of lost it," he says, which is kind of the truth. He lost it… under his bed. After the fifth call, third text, and second voicemail, it rings again, and Jade suddenly pulls away from Beck and her hand shoots under his bed. She immerges immediately with his phone. He wonders briefly how she found it so fast, when he had such a problem.

"Tori", Jade hisses, reading the caller ID. She flips the phone open.

"BECK! HI! FINALLY!" Tori squeals. "So are you ready to talk about-"

"No, he is not ready to _talk_," Jade spits out angrily.

"Oh, hi Jade, Beck and I-"

"Beck and you NOTHING. Stop calling, you stupid, boyfriend stealing-" Beck grabs the phone from Jade's hand before she can finish the sentence and flips it shut.

"So, you're cheating on me," she states loudly, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. There's fire in her eyes, but Beck can see hurt, too, buried under the flames. He knows she has too much hurt already- if she can't convince her he's not cheating, she'll break.

"No," Beck says calmly, remaining on his bed and placing his phone safely in his pocket.

"Why'd you hide your phone then? Knew your other girlfriend would call and you'd have to keep your broken phone from alerting stupid me? Yeah, I know it can't turn off. I heard you running around in here while I was outside. Looking for a good hiding place?" She goes to grab her bag and slings it over her shoulder. He hadn't noticed she had dropped on the floor when she came in.

"Jade, no!" He said, standing up and catching her wrist. He doesn't want her to go, and he doesn't want to fight. "Let me explain." She exhales loudly, clearly attempting to look irritated and pissed, causing her bangs to fly away from her face.

"Ohhhh, I would love to see you try," she replies, the sarcasm so thick its practically dripping from her words.

"Remember Sikowitz's class this morning? Cat called you for the project and I-"

"Immediately latched onto Tori's arm," Jade interrupted. "You're really making a case for yourself."

"No, Jade, she grabbed me, and I only went along with it because Cat had you. Anyway, she wanted to talk about what we are going to do for our skit, and-"

"She wanted to go work on homework that's due a week and a half from now. Riiiiiiiight," she says, exaggerating her words.

"Yes," Beck sighs, getting frustrated that Jade is so determined to find him guilty of wronging her. Jade holds out her hand and demands the phone. Not wanting to make things worse, he hands it to her.

"Is that why she called…" Jade flips open the phone. "Seven times, left three voice mails, and four texts?"

"Really? I thought it was less than that," Beck says, genuinely surprised. Jade makes a frustrated noise.

"Why'd you hide your phone then? If it was for homework," she says, emphasizing the last word, clearly still not believing him.

"Because I knew you randomly showing up means you're upset. And I knew Tori calling me would upset you more. I didn't want to hurt you, because I love you, and I really don't want you to not trust me again. I love you, Jade, please believe me." Beck said, stepping towards her.

She sighs heavily, and he sees her shoulders relax, He knows he's gotten through to her. He waits, a hand on her shoulder, for her breathing to return to normal, and the eyes that are locked on his to lose their anger. Slowly they do, and she even looks slightly ashamed for her outburst. But she knows he'll forgive her, and he knows her anger was mostly misdirected from her anger at her parents.

"What?" She says.

"I love you, Jade," Beck says, knowing the fight is over.

"I hate you," Jade says softly, her hair falling in front of her face as she ducks her head to conceal a small smile. She folds her arms over her chest in an attempt to make her words seem more believable, but Beck can always tell when she's lying.

"No, you don't. I don't think 'hate' is the right word at all," he replied, a slight smile spreading across his face too. He took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Hers remained tightly crossed.

"…Detest?" She asked, looking up at him. She tried to scowl.

"That's not quite the right word either," he said.

"Disdain?" She offered. He shook his head and proceeded to pull her closer. "Abhor?"

"Wrong again. You were closer the first time: it ends with an 'e'."

"Loathe?" She asked innocently. "Dislike?"

"Keep trying," he said.

"**Despise? Curse? Deride? Disparage? Denigrate? Imprecate, execrate, ****anathematize, ****rue, denounce-"**

"Jade!" Beck said loudly, cutting off her rant. Jade liked to read while he worked on his car, and as a result had acquired quite a wide and interesting vocabulary of insults. If he hadn't stopped her, he was sure she could have continued on for several days without hesitation.

"I've got it, it's censure."

"Jade," Beck said again, but softer this time. He hugged her to him and pressed his cheek to the top of her head. Jade, her tirade cut short, finally wrapped her arms around him in return.

"Love." She growled, her voice low, and hugged him back.

"What was that?" Beck said, pulling back to examine her face, and beaming at her again. She scowled at him.

"Love," Jade replied, louder this time, and slightly irritated.

"Pardon? I don't think I'm hearing you _quite _right-"

"LOVE! I. Love. You. I LOVE you. Okay? God!" He chuckled at her and kissed her forehead.

"I love you too, Jade."

-x-

_Please review. I know it's hard to understand if you don't write, but the feedback is invaluable when trying to find motivation to keep going and when you are trying to improve your work. And if you do write… Well, you know how frustrating it is to spend a lot of time and effort on something and no one takes the time to tell you what they think. Thanks so much, and I hoped you guys liked it!_

_~Sari_


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